In particular, domestic stocks fared well, outperforming their benchmark by 4 percentage points.
The poor performance of Harvard's real estate investments, which fell short of their target by double digits, was largely a result of setting goals too high, Meyer said.
Meyer blamed the University's money managers outside HMC for much of the University's failure to meet its overall benchmarks. In particular, investments in emerging markets fared even worse, falling 17 points short of their benchmark.
This year's return marks the first significant setback to Harvard's investors in years. Despite a 10 percent dip in endowment value last summer, the University managed to recover its losses and turn in a 20.5 percent return last year,
"We got it all back and then some," Meyer said. "We just stuck to what we do well."